


Unraveled

by nately



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Drama, Friendship, Multi, Mystery, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-06-02 10:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6562072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nately/pseuds/nately
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you had the chance to see into your future, what would you do to change it?</p><p>_____<br/>_____</p><p>((Previously named Indeed Strange))</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. "Starting With Nothing"

_Okay, Max. Retrace every step._

_I went to sleep last night._

_I woke up at 7 in the goddamn morning._

_I stepped out the door...and now I'm here..._

Max shakes her head, assessing her surroundings. No...no way. Her room door wasn't even behind her anymore! She just stepped right through and ended up...here...in what looks like a theater room...? She looks around to see if she was alone only to find that she was the sole person here. Did she somehow sleep walk into a theater? But how did she get past the locked doors? Did she just break in?? No, that's ridiculous. She couldn't have broken in without getting caught, and she's not even a sleep walker.

Right when Max was about to shout for help, something blue flashed in the corner of her right eye.

"...C-Chloe?"

The blue haired girl, who was looking down snapped her head up. "Max?"

It only took a moment before the two were in an embrace.

"Chloe, it IS you! Oh man, am I so happy to see you!"  
"Well look at you, Mad Max! I--" Chloe's face suddenly fell. She took a few seconds to look around. "Where the hell are we?"

"I have no clue. I just...walked out my dorm and...well, here I am."

The two stands in silence, thinking. How did they end up here? As if a lightbulb just went off in her head, Chloe backs up a bit, completely forgetting that the two were in a very strange situation.

"I can't believe my own so called 'best friend' didn't bother to give me not one single fucking call."

"But..."Max wants to steer Chloe back to the current and more urgent matter at hand, but one look at the disgruntled teen and she knew she wasn't off the hook until she gave Chloe answers. But Max really had no solid excuse. Max was in Arcadia Bay for a while now, being enrolled in Blackwell. She meant to call Chloe, but she's been so caught up with school and trying to change her nerdy life. Max tells her this. Chloe doesn't buy it.

"Well I'm sorry to inconvenience you, Caulfield--" Ouch. "--but it's not that hard to give me a call or even a fucking text."

"Chloe, I--"

Before Max could try and console her friend, another blue light flashes, making both girls jump. Both girls tried to shield their eyes from the insanely bright light, but they didn't need to see who else was here. The voices were distinct.

"...the fuck??"

"Nathan..." Max breathed as she lowers her hand. From all the time she's been at Blackwell, she always avoided the guy. Well, yeah, she avoided all Vortex Club members, but she made sure to steer clear of the clusterfuck that called itself Nathan. She didn't need all the rumours to let her know that the guy had a few unscrewed bolts and a temper hotter than hell.

"Nathan." Chloe called him as well, but her tone was much more heavy. Max didn't have enough time to pull her friend back before she marched to the red jacket teen.

"You fucker! I've been trying to contact you all fucking week!" She snarls. Nathan's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Step aside, slut. Where in the fucks name--"

"You sick psycho! Is this some kind of joke to y--"

"What's going on?" A voice murmurs, fortunately interrupting.

Everyone snaps their attention to...Mr. Jefferson? Max didn't even notice him there. Did he just suddenly appear along with Nathan? How was this happening?

"I...uh..." Max had no explanation. No one in the room did. Their minds didn't even have a chance to think before more blue lights sparked, no longer one by one. Voices started, people randomly appears. Questions rose. Answers weren't provided. Before long, the theater room was filled with about ten to fifteen people. Some Max knew from Blackwell. Others were people she never talked to on a daily basis. One or two were complete strangers.

"How did I get here?"

"Am I dead??? Like, what the fuck???"

"I swear, I literally just woke up..."

"Is it just me, or did someone fart?"

"Where am I??"

"What's going on?"

Max felt her head swirl at the mixture of confusion and ramblings. This was just too much. She was getting no answers with all these people as a distraction. She tried calming people down, but she wasn't really well liked among the selection of people, so it only made things worst.

"Okay, everyone, calm DOWN."

Silence came fast. Everyone's attention was fixed on Jefferson, who stood on one of the chairs. He took a deep breath and straightened his back. Probably to look calm, Max thought.

"I know...that this is a troubling situation we are all finding ourselves in--" Mr. Jefferson couldn't even finish without people saying, "Well duh!" or "This is fucking ridiculous." He once again brought the crowd back to silence.

"Everyone, just calm down. We--" Jefferson gestured to David, who stood beside his wife. "--are assessing the situation right now. I promise, with whatever information we get, we'll let you all know what--"

Again, Jefferson was interrupted. But not because of chatter. A single note that seemed to have come out of nowhere flutters to the ground in the middle of the befuddled crowd.

Everyone hesitates to move at first, as if a random note was the most confusing thing that has happened in the last hour. Madsen is the only one who had the courage to make his way past the crowd, pick it up, and read its contents.

_"Hello, and thank you all for joining me. It is in my absolute interest and pleasure to guide you all today in a very exciting and experimental idea. My sincerest apologies to all of you for my absence. I did not plan ahead and found myself losing track of time._

_However, I refuse to let my poor planning get in the way. It was I who transferred you all here. It may look like a theatre, but it is much more than that. It's not even in your 'world'. Since this letter is getting rather long, I'll spare everyone the details for another golden hour._

_Sit, relax, and enjoy the remedies that I have provided. And pay close attention to the screen--what you'll see will prove to be of importance._

_ Yours truly, _

_ B.B.D. Ed II" _

No one said anything right away, even after Madsen finished talking. They all gave each other confused looks and dismissive shrugs.

"Who is that?" Joyce voiced everyone's question. They all immediately racked their brains for someone with the name, or at least the initials, of B.B.D. Ed the Second. The silence only proved that no one knew anyone of such a name.

"Okay...um...well...now that we got some information..." Lie. Everyone felt like the letter just created more confusion and questions. "...we should do what it says."

Max thought everyone would object, but surprisingly, everyone agreed with Jefferson. It's really the only thing to do now. If this Ed guy has the power to actually do...whatever this was...Max would rather not get on his bad side.

Max sits and rests her back against a chair, which was actually more comfy than a normal theater chair, and watched as some of the guys look around the room to maybe find an exit, and others inspect the chairs as if they held secrets.

"Mom and step-shit are here." Chloe sits beside Max. Max wonders if Chloe either completely forgot about their disconnection the last few years or if she just forgave Max.

"He's the security guard at Blackwell. Didn't know he was your step father..."

Good job, Max. You just put your foot in your mouth. Not only did you remind Chloe that Max practically ignored her best friend for years without contact of any kind, but you also referenced the death of someone important to the both of them.

But Chloe didn't seem to be bothered. "Yeah. But where are your folks?"

Good question. Max scans the room, finally able to put names to faces now that everyone's calmed down. There was herself and Chloe...of course Madsen, Joyce, Mr. Jefferson and Nathan...but who else?

Ah, Warren was here! Max smiles. She was happy that someone else she knew who was close to her is here. They only knew each other for a few months, but she already considers the shy geek her best friend. Best friend. She blushes. Oh yeah. She friendzoned him the very first day. Poor guy, but she's not really interested. Max tells all of this to Chloe. She laughs.

"Damn. Does he know?"

"I think so. It's pretty obvious..." Max replies sheepishly.

"Ugh, can't believe I gotta wear this fucking skirt."

Uh oh. Max knew that voice.

"Who's she?" Chloe disrespectfully points to a short haired blonde, who stood with two other girls.

"That's Victoria and her minions. They basically worship her. Consider her the female carbon copy of Nathan Prescott. Mean, selfish, rich, and in the Vortex Club."

Chloe snorted. "I already don't like her. Anyone associated with that prick can fuck an alligator's mouth silly."

Max ignores the disturbingly specific insult. "How do you know Prescott anyways?"

Chloe starts to tap her foot, and Max frowns at the reaction. Ever since they were small, when Chloe was nervous, she would instantly tap her foot. This new 'Chloe' seems so edgy and made of steel that Max wasn't at all certain her best friend could get nervous anymore, let alone fall back to old habits. It must be really serious. So she let the subject go and resumes scanning the people around her. It's the least Max could do.

Max recognizes some girls that attend Blackwell, like Juliet, Dana, Brooke, and oh, there's Alyssa. But Max has a rather hard time identifying some of the guys. Okay, she knew for a fact that the guy to the right was Juliet's boyfriend...and she recognized Justin and...Trevor is his name...? Oh, there's Logan...but who's the guy in the...was he 'Hyde', or maybe 'Hill'?...Oh no, wait--that's totally Hayden...

But what about that other scruffy man? He was much older than Max, and she never saw him around campus, so he definitely wasn't a student. And another thing she noticed was the medium sized dog that sat in between seats, almost invisible to everyone else. The dog seems a bit cautious, as if trying to stay beside his master. The master in question looks more like a junkie than a dog person.

Max nods in his general direction. "Y'know that guy?"

"Shit, no bars." Chloe cursed before looking up from her phone. Her eyebrows instantly furrows. Jeez, it seems like Chloe knows everyone. Well, Arcadia Bay isn't a big town, and it HAS been YEARS...

"So you do?"

"Yeah. Frank Bowers. I owe the asshole hella cash."

Max was too worried about her friends dismissive and short answer and the dangerous tone it had to berate her friend on the word use of 'hella'. She decided to interrogate her friend further later.

“Max”.

Max almost didn’t even hear her name being called because it was so soft. Max’s eyes lit up, recognizing the voice. Her head whips to the side and greeted the girl with open arms.

“Kate! Oh man! I can’t believe you’re here, too! How’re you?”

Kate strained a smile and casted her gaze to her shoes. “I’ve been better. But everyday is a blessing. You?”

Max didn’t allow her smile to falter to the gloomy mood. Max heard that there were some nasty rumours about Kate, but thought it was just that--rumours. Max doesn't know exactly what those rumours are, but to actually see it taking a toll on her friend made Max feel as if it's her job to involve herself. Max was always a nosey person anyways.

“I’m as good as this weird situation can allow.” Max pats the seat to her left, in which Kate sat down. Max caught Chloe's pouting. Green with envy, Max thought with amusement.

Max took one last sweep around the room and nope, she checked everyone out already. She felt herself relax, knowing that she was surrounded (mostly) by people she knew already. It made this morning a bit less scary, with Chloe and Kate sitting at her sides and everyone else up and about looking at things. And besides, Max has to admit, the chairs are super cozy. Not only that, but there were also full on couches. This room was MADE to be the perfect family room to just snuggle and watch TV.

Max thought back to the letter. So...someone did...something...that got all these people around her in the same place. They were somehow...teleported? Max didn’t really feel comfortable venturing to fantasy and the supernatural to explain real life events--that was more up Warren's alley--but she couldn’t help it. The blue flash of lights, the letter...it was all so bizarre.

This ‘B.B.D. Ed II’ person told everyone to just sit down and pay attention to the screen...Max looks up at the enormous blank screen. It was no different than an actual theatre room TV, but nothing was currently playing. Maybe if everyone had it's attention, it will start? There wasn’t a remote control anywhere, and it seems that everyone in the room were coming up empty handed. It was just an empty room, spare for chairs, couches, and the screen.

And another thing...why them? Chloe’s parents were there, but why not everyone else’s? Why there were so few adults? And why these specific people from Blackwell? Are they all somehow connected to one another? Do they all know this Ed guy? Max doesn't know an Ed from anywhere, except that one weird kid back in Seattle. But a random kid doing this? No, that had to be wrong. Will whatever might play on the screen tell them?

“Nothing...” Max could hear her teacher say. Mark Jefferson was oddly calm about the situation, Max couldn't help but point out. If he's trying to remain collected for his students, then he's doing one hell of a job. “Alright everyone, I think that’s enough searching. There’s obviously nothing here.”

“...Then what do we do now?” Warren questions.

Mark picks up the letter again, scanning its contents. He looks up.

“We do what Ed says.“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've read about five other fanfics with this concept, and I think it's underrated. 
> 
> So join me on this awkward adventure, yeah?
> 
> This was only an introductory chapter. The real shit happens in chapter 2 ;^)
> 
> Regardless, thanks for reading! ♡


	2. "Episode 1.1 - Time Travel And Sympathy For Those You Never Knew You'd Sympathize For"

_"We do what Ed says."_

Everyone is silent, unmoving, but no one disagrees. They have absolutely no other better plan. There were no exits, no doors, no hidden secrets. Just them, the couches and chairs, and the screen in front of them.

After what seemed like forever, the occupants of the room finally decide to move, choosing a seat they deemed comfortable.   

As soon as the last person sat down, the large screen fades from black.

**A very scenic and peaceful looking shot in the air of Arcadia Bay’s forest fades on the screen. The high trees dancing along with the wind and birds and leaves almost indistinguishable in front of a sunset disappearing into the ocean and rocky terrain.**

Max's just relieved that something finally happened. From the "ohh's" and "ahh's" around her, she decides everyone else is as stunned but relieved as well.

**A title card fades in as well at the top of the screen. “Life is Strange”, with the word ‘Is’ in a photo.**

“...Life is Strange...?” Warren asked, leaning forward. He is more than interested at the calm presentation. And not to mention it's starting off like a movie, which happens to be his favorite pastime.

“Fitting.” Nathan simply grunts.

**The shot lingers a bit before fading back to black. Lightning suddenly flashes, followed by rain. It's dark outside. The scene focuses on Max, who is temporarily unconscious.**

"...Me?" Max breathes. She don’t remember this happening at all! The Max on screen... is wearing the same clothes she’s wearing right now, so when did this happen? Is this...going to happen? Max can feel everyone’s eyes look at her, as if waiting for answers. She can’t give them any, though, and chooses to watch the screen.

**Max finally gets up and questions her surroundings. She spots the lighthouse. She makes her way up the hill to reach it. When she does, the lighthouse collapses on her. Before she's crushed, Max is startled awake, safe, and in the middle of her photography class.**

“What was that about?” Chloe asks, turning to her friend.

“I don’t know...this all didn’t happen. I have Mr. Jefferson today for class, and I’m wearing those clothes so...”

“...So maybe this is the same day? But just later...” Warren finishes, his eyes never leaving the screen.

**Max expresses her concern for the weird dream. Mark Jefferson is in the middle of a lecture. Max tries to calm herself down. As soon as Jefferson turns his back, Stella is seen picking up her pencil, Taylor throws a crumpled piece of paper at Kate, and Victoria’s phone rings.**

“Why is all of this nonsense happening when my back is turned?” Mark eyed Taylor, who fakes surrender. He gives Kate a sympathetic look. “I’m very sorry, Kate. I didn’t know something like this was going on.”

Kate smiles back at him. “It’s fine.”

“But why are they showing us all of these mundane things? Like the pencil and the phone ringing?” Warren asks aloud.

Max shakes her head at her friend. “No idea. Weird, right?”

“Who’s calling you, Vicky?” Courtney asks, ignoring Warren’s question.

Victoria flashes her friend a nasty glare. “None of your business!”

Courtney didn’t need any more reason to shut up.

**Max grabs her camera and takes a selfie. Jefferson calls her out and gives a very short lecture on “self portraits”. He asks Max a question, which she doesn’t know the answer to. Victoria gives the right answer and makes fun of Max.**

“...And you don’t try to correct her behaviour?” Joyce raises her voice, baffled. She can’t believe what she saw! She always had this vision of Blackwell being this prestigious and respectable school that Chloe just squandered her chances of attending to. But so far, Joyce is starting to feel as if Chloe getting expelled was the better outcome.

“Well, it’s just a harmless comment. The students make them all the time. Now, if I’d saw the paper throwing, I would have dealt with the situation...” Mark Jefferson reasons. Joyce didn’t buy it, and huffs, turning her back to the teacher. Joyce wasn’t so sure about the guy. _He felt a bit off..._

**Eventually, the class ends. Jefferson reminds the students about the Everyday Heroes contest. Everyone has already packed up and start to leave while Mark and Victoria make their way to his desk to discuss her photo, leaving Max to wander around the room.**

“The Everyday Heroes Contest. Wish I entered a better photo...” Alyssa mumbles, adjusting herself in her seat.

“I thought your photo was fine. A bit rushed, but fine.” Mark comments. Nathan scoffs, but doesn't interject. Max notes Mark going out of his way to ignore Nathan, but too bad everyone else didn’t.

“What? You know something we don’t, Prescott?” Dana spoke up, leaning back on her side of the couch.

“None of your business, whore.”

Dana sat up at this.

“What did you just call me??”

“A whore.” Nathan replies, nonchalantly. “I called you a whore, whore.”

“That’s enough.” David interrupts, putting as much bass in his voice as he could. Despite the effort, Nathan isn't fazed.

“Oh please. I’m shaking in my boots, Madsen.” Nathan counters sharply, and the two engages in a glaring contest. Max couldn't decide whose stare was more scarier.

“Jeez, knock it off, Nate...” Victoria mumbles, tapping Nathan on his shoulder a bit. He breaks eye contact with the security guard to look up at his friend. He turns his gaze to the screen.

“Whatthefuckever.”

Victoria frowns. Nathan was acting...weird. He seemed a bit more on edge than usual. But why? She's starting to get that familiar but unnerving feeling again...uselessness. She loves Nathan, but sometimes he's so damn unreachable that it felt like she could do nothing to help when he's having a bad day or something went wrong. He rarely tells her anything, which makes her antsy and worried all the time. She wants to help him...doesn’t he want the help back?

**Max walks up to Kate, and they engage in a short conversation.**

“...Well that was a bit awkward...” Brooke can’t help but comment. When she talks to people, it never gets as awkward...except when it’s with Warren...she blushes at the thought.

Kate nods, clearly lost on what to say. Max notices and quickly takes the spotlight away, in which Kate is grateful for. “Well, there’s not much to say. I must still be pretty shaken up about my...nightmare...” Max isn’t sure what to call it anymore. Max has nightmares all the time, which didn’t seem scary when she wakes up. So why did this one insist on giving her the chills?

**Max walks up to Jefferson. Victoria tries to curtly dismiss Max, but Mark quickly deflects it and asks Max about her photo. Max doesn’t see the big deal. Mark says otherwise.**

“...and I stand by that, Max. I really hope you can enter a photo soon.”

Max decides not to comment.

**Max walks out of the class. _“Welcome to the real world”_.**

**Everyone is walking by, and Max leans against a wall, contemplating going to the bathroom to wash her face. She puts on her headphones and sigh as a logo that says, “DONTNOD ENTERTAINMENT” appears. Music starts to play.**

Everyone looks at Warren, who was in the middle of a laughing fit.

“..Warren?” Max asks.

“HAHA! Oh man! That’s priceless!”  
“Just spill it, geek.” Chloe growls impatiently.

“T-the logo--AHA--says, ‘DONTNOD’, but Max ends up nodding anyways!” Warren croaks before rolling over to start another fit of laughter.

“Of course it’s Warren that notices these things.” Max can’t help but laugh. Typical Warren. He always notice the little things. He has impressive observation skills, she'll give him that. Probably from his extensive film knowledge and passion for science.

**Max walks down the hallway and enters the girls' bathroom. She splashes water on her face and gives a monologue while looking at her photo. “Fuck it”, she mutters, before shredding her photo and throwing it on the ground.**

“Maxine Caulfield! That was a perfectly acceptable photo! And you had it right on you! Why would you do such a thing?” Jefferson exclaims.

“I..well...I was embarrassed...” And she was. She can’t show that to everyone! It's embarrassing enough that they showed it on the screen! Even though no one said anything yet about it being bad art yet, she still felt self conscious about her work and what others thought. Irrational, but that still doesn't erase the anxiety.

“Not to mention, you’re littering...” David mumbles, knowing he can’t do nothing about it at the moment. "Stop poutin'..." Joyce giggles, rubbing her husbands head to make him feel a little better.

**Out of nowhere, a blue butterfly flies in from the vents and lands on a bucket on the other side of the stalls. Max approaches it and takes the photo op.**

“Well, at least you're thinking like a real artist...” ...but surely not acting like one. Max could hear the unspoken words. She sighs and brings her legs up to sit criss-cross. She just didn’t like her photo and wanted to shred it, is it too much to ask for??

**Before Max can even move to leave the bathroom, Nathan Prescott enters the bathroom and the butterfly flutters across the screen.**

“NATHAN??” Everyone pretty much gasped in chorus, glaring at the boy in question who flinches.

“What??”

“What in god’s name are you doing in the GIRLS bathroom??” David raises his voice, which makes Nathan tense up a bit.

“Well, fuck! The screen’ll tell you eventually, I’m sure!”  
Everyone shoots Nathan one last glare that could kill before looking back at the screen.

No one notices Jefferson tensing a bit as well, eyes never tearing away from the screen.

“Max, get out the bathroom.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to be glared at.

“Chloe Price, are you plannin' on meetin' Prescott in the bathroom?” Joyce’s motherly instincts kicks in. She knew her daughter got caught up in the wrong crowd, but she also thought Chloe was smarter than this.

“Ma, chill. I know what I’m doing, you’ll see. I have it all under control, watch.”

Not even Chloe herself is convinced that was true.

**Nathan looks around a bit and starts to talk to himself, leaning on the sink. Max decides to keep herself hidden.**

“Max...why are you still hiding? Get the fuck out of there!” Brooke urged at the screen. She never really talked to Max, only a handful of times before. Mostly because she talked to Warren and always seemed to get in the way. But the situation Max found herself in was already looking grim. Nathan talks to himself? She heard a lot of rumours about Nathan and him being...well...a bit messed up in the head. But she didn’t know it was this bad...

Brooke felt a pair of eyes on her, and she jumps a bit when she realizes it's Nathan's. Those icy blue eyes are literally dropping the room’s temperature at about 10 degrees.

“I’m right here...” Nathan mutters before looking back at the screen. He didn’t want people to see him like this. It just creates more problems. He knows about the fucked up rumours about him around school. That Nathan is “crazy” or “psychotic”. He hates when he's just given a quick glance and then slapped with labels like that. Not like he cared about his image; he couldn’t care less about his rep. But it just makes it more difficult to feel safe. To have friends that actually cared.

To feel accepted.

**The door opens again and Chloe walks in.**

“Chloe...” Joyce groans. Her daughter really is involved somehow with a Prescott. Not to mention the one who is talking to himself. Yes, this is certainly her worst nightmare come true.

“Like I said, I have it under control.” Chloe reassures, but in a disgruntled tone. Will they just drop it and let the fucking scene play?

“Nathaniel Prescott, if you lay a HAND on my daughter, I swear--”

“I get it. Your half assed threats don’t work on my anyway. Besides, I don’t plan on anything happening, so calm the fuck down.” Nathan barks. David frowns, but Nathan just rolls his eyes.

**Chloe checks the stalls, but misses the last one, effectively missing Max as well. Nathan and Chloe then start their tense conversation about drugs and money that Max doesn’t quite understand yet.**

“ ‘Pumping drugs and shit to kids’??” David started, standing up and glaring at Nathan. “Prescott, you have gone too far--”

“Honey, sit down--”

“You don’t even know the whole story, old man. So shut the fuck up.”  
“When we get out of here, consider yourself expelled!” David growls before sitting down again.

“Yeah, because Wells isn’t a fucking pussy who takes it up the ass by my father. What a joke.”

David's blood is boiling, but doesn't protest to Joyce against rubbing his back. “Can’t believe this all happens...under MY watch...” David mumbles defeatedly, leaning forward to rest his head on his hand.

Joyce gives Chloe a curt look. “Yeah, ‘under my control’, huh? Chloe, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

Chloe just sighs dramatically and leans back. She’s so over it. Her fucking family. Her fucking life. Fuck it all.

**Chloe starts to push Nathan’s buttons, by mentioning his family and threatening to tell everyone about Nathan talking to himself.**

“Not like it’s a secret anymore...” Warren mumbles under his breath. He actually kinda felt a bit...sorry for the guy. Well, Warren knows he’s bad news, but probably not in the way people say he is. Nathan just reminds him of himself a little, oddly enough. Not that Warren has the same problems, but Warren always felt like he was pushed around. Like he had no say so over really anything whatsoever. The bullies like Logan and Zachary always bullied him no matter what pleas or tough shield he would provide. Hell, they're here right now, sitting idly as if they haven't shoved him in lockers on a Friday. He couldn’t get the girl of his dreams. And he felt like he’d be stuck as a geeky nerd for the rest of his life.

Warren didn’t like taking other people’s situations just to make it all about him, but Warren just couldn’t help but feel sympathy. Even for Nathan Prescott. He glanced at said boy, whose fists were tight and his eyes staring at the screen as if he desperately wanted to burn it with his eyes.

**As Chloe goes on, Nathan gets more worked up. He finally gets pushed to the limit and pulls out a gun.**

“Oh my god..” Joyce murmurs, holding her hand on her heart. As soon as she saw the gun pointed at her daughter...her daughter...she could’ve sworn her heart lept out of her chest. One glance at her husband and she knew he's thinking the same thing.

“You have a fucking gun?” Chloe barked, not even fazed that it’s pointing right at her on the screen. She’d admit that it was frightening seeing herself have a gun pulled on her and so close to death, but to think the asshole actually brought a gun with him...

"I always carry my gun around, Smurf. You're fault you were acting like a prissy bitch."

“Really, Nathan? Are you really going to throw petty insults right now?” Max sputters. Nathan frowns and takes a quick look at Chloe’s parents, who is too busy staring at the screen, completely devastated. They didn’t even know that the people around them were talking because their little girl is literally facing death.

Nathan decides to let it go. He's disrespectful, he'd admit, but not disrespectful enough to joke around about someone's impending death. He squints his eyes and draws his mouth to a thin line. _Don't do it. Don't pull the trigger. Don't let her get to you._

**Chloe backs up, immediately scared. She is backed into a wall as Nathan presses up against her, holding the gun to her stomach. He starts to ramble about how people controlled him, and he’s sick of it. Chloe tries to counter, saying he’d get in trouble. But it doesn’t help, as Nathan suggests that no one would miss her. Finally, Chloe calls him a psycho before pushing him off of her, sending a chain reaction for Nathan; the force makes him pull the trigger.**

Everyone jumps at the loud sound of the gunshot, but before they could react properly, they all whip their heads when they hear a cry.

Chloe’s screaming. And it wasn’t from the screen.

“Oh my god, Chloe, are you alright??” David almost shouts, both him and Joyce rushing over to Chloe, who falls off her chair and holds her stomach on the ground. Everyone else gets closer to crowd around her.

Max freezes, with each passing second dread pours over her. What is going on? Did Chloe actually get shot in real life? Did her best friend just fucking die right here in front of her??

“Chloe! Sweetie, are you--” Joyce starts, but Chloe groans in response.

“Uhhg...just...that fucking hurt...” She slowly removes her hands from her stomach to maybe try and find a wound...

...but nope. Nothing. Nothing is there. No more pain. No blood. No gunshot wound. Chloe sat up in confusion, looking up at her mother and David.

“I...I think I’m...fine?”

Everyone shares equally confused looks.

“So you just...felt something?” Max tries to reason. Joyce and David move to help their daughter sit back down on the chair, but Chloe just gets up herself normally, as if she didn’t just fall to the ground in pain and scream bloody murder.

“Y-yeah...it was like a sudden sharp pain on the left side here...it hurt like a fucking bitch...” Chloe tries to joke. No one laughs, though.

“Chloe, you almost gave us a heart attack.” Joyce says, her voice cracking. Max almost didn’t notice her trembling.

“Mom, I...I think I’m fine...It just came and left...shit, it really did felt like someone stabbed me or something...” Chloe insisted out loud, but it's more geared towards Max. Max just stood there silent again for a moment. She didn’t what to say. No one did.

“It just happened right after you...got shot...on screen. Did it feel like a gunshot?” Max mumbles, unsure.

"I guess so, maybe."

David closes his eyes, and reopened them.

But no one was prepared when he lunged after Nathan.

“G-get the fuck off me!” Was what Nathan had to shout for people to realize what was happening. David was reaching over two chairs, a death grip on Nathan's collar trying to yank him towards himself. Nathan trying to feebly pry the security guards hands away. It took Zachary, Mr. Jefferson, and Logan to rip Madsen off of Nathan. But David still tries to get at him.

“That... _monster_...shot Chloe! He shot her! He--”

Suddenly, a blue spark lights the room, surrounding itself around David as it shocks him. Everyone who was holding him back was exempted from the electricity that eventually caused David to pass out.

“David...David!” Joyce calls out, rushing over to his unconscious body, instantly letting out a trembling sigh when he is visibly still breathing.

A note, in a similar color and fashion as the first one, flutters to the ground, and Mr. Jefferson picks it up and reads it out loud.

_“Greetings again, my guest!_

_It has come to my attention that it’s gotten quite violent in there! I do say, that’s not appropriate, even though everyone must have their reasons. And I respect that, however, it is NOT permitted. Even though you can’t do any physical harm to one another, I will see to it that you are timed out until I feel like you’re ready to join everyone else._

_As you may have figured out, whatever injuries you acquire on the screen, you feel in real life. You will not have anything to show for it, fortunately. So maybe that can serve as good news! :)_

_Facing the screen, turn to the right and look on the ground. You’ll see a basement passageway that leads to...well...the basement! Down there you’ll find male and female bedrooms, bathrooms, and all of your necessary belongings on the beds._

_With that said, maybe a small break should be in order?_

_With love and care,_

_B.B.D. Ed II"_

And then silence follows. No one knows what to do, what to say, what to THINK. It’s an eerie silence that didn’t want to leave.

Finally, Frank and Jefferson walks in the specified location on the letter, and do indeed find the latches that leads to a basement. Some of the guys start to mumble they checked everywhere for exits or doors, but the chatter soon die down and the air is heavy again.

Zachary and Logan both agree to carry David down the stairs and everyone else gather themselves and make their way to the stairs, all stiff from everything that’s happened.

“This’s been one hell of a morning...” Warren mumbles.

No one found themselves disagreeing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally into the main gritty story! This chapter went through so many edits, but I'm still a bit disappointed at how it came out. Life is Strange is such an angsty game, so I hope I can liven things up a bit in the future before Kate's attempted suicide.
> 
> Also, regarding the important choices in the game, I am going to go with what I myself chose in my first run. But I'm also not happy with my first choices in the game...
> 
> ...so maybe you all as the audience can choose the choices? Maybe I'll make a poll for each choice in game and go with the most voted choice. Who knows, it's still brainstorming time. ;^)


	3. "Episode 1.2 - Pregnancy Tests and Badassery"

**In the girls room.**

 

Max wants to believe it's all just a nightmare. Just a simple, unconscious chain of events that didn't reach her in the real world, and that Max is actually lying in bed, in her dorm, waiting to wake up and start her week.

But when she wakes up from her nap to see an unfamiliar ceiling, it only confirms that she's not in her dorm. _The nightmare is real._

Everyone had decided that a quick nap--or until David woke up---should refresh everyone. It was one hellish of a morning for all of them, and a refreshing nap could go a long way.

Max was grateful for this. She didn't think she could handle watching anymore after witnessing her friend...die. And if it wasn't for this Ed person, Max wouldn't be here to see what would've happened to Chloe later on that exact day. Max couldn't tell if this revelation was a blessing or a curse.

Max sits up and groans. The beds are even more soft and comfortable than the heavenly chairs upstairs. She didn't want to get up, but she know she has to.

She rubs her overslept eyes and looks around. She isn't really use to people sleeping in the same room as her, especially not this many. She's an only child growing up, and Blackwell provided separate dorm rooms for everyone. She shared rooms with Chloe when they were little, but that was so long ago, Max almost forget it even happened.

There are two rooms downstairs. When they entered, a duffle bag sat on the edge of all the beds. Everyone just had to open the bag and try to find which bag held whose clothes. When they all found their respective assigned beds, it was then that everyone realised that the girls were separated from the guys.

No surprise there. However, Joyce stayed on the men's side, refusing to leave David after he passed out. Chloe almost had to stay with Joyce, but Max helped in convincing the distraught and flustered woman otherwise.

Max couldn't even imagine how it must've felt watching the last of your family die on screen, and only moments later have your husband get shocked and pass out for more than a few hours. _Overwhelming...and frightening..._ Max could only guess.

"Hey, Maximillion. Sleep any good?"

"A little bit." Max replies, looking over her shoulder. Chloe wanted to sleep in Max's bed. She didn't blame her. "Just had a lot on my mind. Hardly slept a wink."

"Same." Chloe mumbles simply. The blue haired girl sits up cross legged. "When do you think we'll go back up there?"

Max brought her knees up to her chin, closing her eyes to think. "Uhm...I dunno." Max opens her eyes to look around. Brooke, Alyssa, and Kate are all over in the corner having their own conversation, Juliet and Dana were still asleep, and Victoria's crownies are laughing at something she said.  "Maybe in a little bit."

Chloe sighs and stands up, stretching and wincing when her back pops. "Welp, I'm gonna go check on mom and stepshit. You comin'?"

"Sure."

To Max and Chloe's surprise, David is up and running. He seems a bit more quiet, but Max assumes it's due to the shock, literally, and her daughter being shot. After some uneventful conversation, everyone finally drag themselves upstairs, each step getting painful and hesitant.

Although everyone seems to have return to their original spots, Joyce and David noticeably chose a seat further from Nathan. Awkward. But at least they're closer to Chloe and Max now. Max couldn't have thought otherwise.

Settling back in her original seat, Max rubs Chloe's back in some sort of comfort. Chloe gives her a small smile.

"Here we go."

**"NO!" Max called out, jumping from her hiding spot and holding her hand out. Time slows down, and suddenly, starts to reverse until Max is back in her seat in class. She wakes up confused.**

" 'What the fuck' indeed." Chloe whispers.

"Was that like...a premonition? Like _Final Destination_?" Warren slowly turns his gaze from Max to the screen, until his eyes lit up. "Aw man! That's so cool Max!"

"Uh...but, I dunno..."

"Wait--I've seen that movie. Don't like, everyone around the main character dies??" Victoria piped up.

"Well, only the people who are around her, the main characters really..." Warren starts, but instantly panicks when he realizes he too is a friend of Max. He looks at Max. "What in the world did you do to trigger it?? We gotta reverse it!"  
"What is 'it'?? And I dunno how to reverse it, Warren! I'm not even sure it's just a premonition..." Max almost lost her cool there. Her mind is running a mile a minute and it isn't helping that she's now developing a pounding headache.

"There's no way to reverse it, dumbass. Have you seen the movie? And its sequel?" Nathan groans.

Warren freezes for a moment, and then looks at Nathan. "...dude...you watch _Final Destination_?"

Nathan rolled his eyes and leans back more in his chair. "Yeah. Got the sequels too."

Warren sits closer to Nathan, almost bouncing in excitement. "You said you 'got' the sequels?? Awesome! I've been trying to download them for AGES!" Warren couldn't help the dopey grin that plasters his face. "Could I borrow them sometime?" Warren almost squeals, but then instantly shrinks himself in modesty when he realises who he's talking to.

"I don't care. As long as you bring 'em back."

Warren smiles.

"Thanks, Nate!"

Nathan crinkles his nose at the new nickname, but it lacks it's bite, so Warren's smile only widens.

"Are you two done with your makeout session or can we please continue?" Chloe interrupts, making Warren jump a bit and blush. However, Nathan has an indifferent expression and just flips her off.

**Max start to question what happen. She already heard the lecture. Stella picks up her pencil and Taylor throws paper at Kate. Max is almost sure of her theory. However, when Victoria's phone rings, Max jumps and breaks her camera. She starts her theory--she can rewind time.**

"Wait, so THAT'S what you think of? Time travel?" Dana asks. Dana likes her supernatural stories, but none of them did the main character just instantly come to a conclusion that they can rewind time.

"Well, it's a very weird time for me...no pun intended." Max mumbles. So...rewind time? Seems very far fetched, but she could imagine her future self being a bit overwhelmed.

**Max raises her hand, and time rewinds. Her camera fixes itself.**

"So it really is time travel..." Mark whispers. He's baffled, to say the least. And a bit concerned at the new turn of events.

Zachary whistles. "That's gotta be some power there. I dunno how I would've handled it." He couldn't see himself handling it as easy as future Max is. It's weird how she just trusted her guts and wasn't at least freaking out. Powers are only in comic books and superhero movies.

"So...you literally have the power to manipulate time..." Warren couldn't find anything else to say. For one thing, science could not explain this one. Which troubles Warren. He depends on science. It's like his sixth sense--his element. Even though he loves fiction movies, he always explains and reasons things with science as backup. But...this? He gives Max a defeated look, who understands his distraught mood.

"Yeah, I know Warren. Bizarre." Max whispers.  

"Max..."

Max didn't even need to look up to know that Joyce is speaking to her. She didn't even have to answer her to know what she want to say. Save Chloe, Joyce's unspoken words hang in the air heavily.

But Max wasn't going to let this opportunity pass. Even though her future self has every reason not to go back in the bathroom to save a girl she didn't know is Chloe, she WILL save Chloe. No matter what.

 **Max tries to calm herself as she takes a photo to retrace her steps and verify that it is real**.

"Goddamn. How many times do you gotta check if it's real or not?" Logan complains.

"Hush. Give me some slack." Max dismisses, her eyes never leaving the screen.

Logan frowns at this. Really? Everyone else got to carry full conversations, but the first time Logan says something aloud and he gets shushed? He slouches in his chair. Fine then, he won't say anything.

 **Again, Mark Jefferson asks Max the question, but Max already plans to go to the bathroom. She tries to make an excuse, but Mark asks her to stay after class anyways**.

"Such a ditz. Just rewind time and give him the right answer." Victoria says.

"I'm pretty sure I'm gonna do that, Victoria." Max deadpans. Victoria just rolls her eyes and starts to pick at her nails.

"Just don't make an ass out of me."

Okay, Victoria. Sure. Max thinks sarcastically.

**Max rewinds and gives Mark the correct answer. He congratulates her, but Victoria sneers, unimpressed and annoyed.**

Max and Victoria make eye contact. Victoria gives her a look of disgust while Max smirks in amusement.

**Everything happens exactly like earlier--the bell rings, Mark talks about the contest, and everyone leaves except for Max, Kate, Victoria, and Mark. Max walks to the door, but Mark asks for her.**

"Wait, I thought I answered it right? Why do I still...?" Max is confused. She just gave the right answer! Mark said nothing about meeting her after class.

"We still need to talk about the photo. And I really hope this time around you'll submit."

No one in the room thinks Max will do that.

**Everything happens in sequence, but this time, Max gives a more plausible excuse. Mark says don't wait too long for the elusive right moment, and that life won't play catch up. "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans."**

**However, Max rewinds and quotes John Lennon before Mark does. He congratulates her once again for having all the right answers.**

"Now you're just manipulating me." Mark casually points out.

"Sorry Mr. Jefferson. But I really need to be somewhere else..."

Zachary smirks. "I'd probably do the exact same thing too. Just rewind for all the right answers. All the teachers would love me, and I'll never have to study again!"

Logan, however, punches Zachary's arm lightly. "Dude, if you ever get powers, you better let me in on it. I'm failing Math."

**Max leaves the classroom to start jogging to the bathroom, hoping she's not too late. She goes in and retraces every step, from her washing her face, shredding the photo, and taking the photo of the butterfly.**

"Retracing every step, smart." Warren inquires. He's watched enough time travel movies to know about the butterfly effect...

... _butterfly effect_...

"Woah woah woah..."

Everyone's attention is now directs to Warren, whose eyes grew in size.

"What is it, Warren?"

"The blue butterfly...it's a symbol for the butterfly effect. Where one small action could result in total chaos."

"So..you're saying the butterfly here somehow goes with Max's powers?" Chloe questions, to which Warren nods.

"Yeah. Right now, Max is gonna change something that's suppose to happen...right?" Max nods, and Warren continues. "So that means saving Chloe is apart of the butterfly effect. Your changing the normal course of events..." Warren drifts off before casting his gaze to the ground. "...and i hate to say it, but I'm not really sure...this is a good idea..."

“...Saving Chloe isn't a good idea??” Joyce catches up, and understandably shocked.

“Well, if this really is like, a butterfly effect situation, then that means...your daughter was fated to be in the bathroom...and Nathan to...” Warren couldn't bring himself to say it.

Warren cringe as Joyce and David's face distort in horror. Warren doesn't have any children, but he couldn't help but feel as unnerved as the two parents must feel. It must be absolutely devastating to hear your child has to die, and there's really nothing they could do about it.

But Warren continues. “If Max stops Nate--” another glare from the mentioned boy. “--then something worse could happen. I...I dunno! Sorry, I could be totally wrong. I'm just getting my info from movies and a lesson from my science class.”

“Well, regardless, future me is going to save Chloe. Maybe my powers’ll vanish afterwards.” Max tries to add.

“Maybe.”

**Max waits just like last time, until finally Nathan's voice could be heard telling Chloe to leave his parents out of it.**

“Hold on, this is the part where Nathan pulls out the gun.” Courtney turns to face Max. “Why did you wait that long for them to get that far in the conversation?”

Max furrows her eyebrows and shrugs. Yeah, why did she wait that long? They've been talking for a while now. Was she just pacing back and forth this whole time? DO something, Max!

**Max, after rewinding once, manages to grab a hammer from under a cleaning cart, smash the alarm glass, and press it. This causes Nathan to get distracted by the alarm, and enough time for her to push him off and run out the bathroom alive.**

Nathan grunts, and Chloe glares at him.

“What--poor little rich boy has his dignity crushed?” Chloe taunts.

“No, more like balls crushed.” Nathan groans, shifting in his seat at the slight but fading pain.

Warren giggles, but immediately gets silent when he feels Nathan's piercing glare. Jeez, will that guy ever take a joke? Or even run out of stamina to keep glaring at him?

**Nathan, on the ground, starts to get up with his gun. However, his shoe kicks Max's torn photo. He takes a glance before leaving the bathroom. “Another shitty day.”**

“You've got two people who saw you with a gun, one you threatened to shoot, and all you can say is your day is shitty?” Warren asks, amused.

“Shut it, Gayram.”

**Max walks out the bathroom as well, but David steps in and starts to interrogate her, giving Max a hard time.**

“If I'd known you saved Chloe, I wouldn't act that way.” David says. “Sorry, Max. And thank you.”

“Yes, thank you, Max. And please excuse David's behavior. He means well.” Joyce adds.

“It's really no problem. I understand you don't know what happened. No one does at the moment.” ...which begs the question: Who will she tell? Would she tell them only about the bathroom incident, her powers, or both?

**Principal Wells steps into the hallway and dismisses David. Max approaches him, and he voices her nervousness. Suddenly, a prompt popped on screen with two choices: Report Nathan or Hide Truth.**

And as if on cue, another note flutters to the ground. Mark wastes no time picking it up.

_ Oh goody--our first real decision! _

_ From time to time, you will all be given a choice. These are very important, as they will shape your future and change everyone's lives for the better...or worse. _

_ To be as fair as possible, everyone must voice their choice out loud to count as a tally. Whichever choice has the most tallies in the end is the chosen scenario. So not everyone will agree with one another. _

_ Please choose wisely. _

“...and there's no signature…” Mark concludes, closing the letter up. The obvious heavy tone of the last three words and missing signature makes the room go silent. Everyone focuses on the screen at the two choices as the background does and sequence of blurs.

“...I guess I'll be the first to choose Report Nathan.” Joyce says, making Nathan frown.

“I second that.” David grumbles, meeting Nathan's eyes with a hard glare. “Even though this punk didn't shoot our Chloe, he's still going down.”

“I actually think otherwise.”

Everyone looks credulous at Warren, who immediately starts to pick at the material of his chair. “I mean, I think Nate didn't really mean for it to happen...and it didn't this time around.” Warren looks at Nathan. “...Did you?”

“No, I...I don't want to hurt anybody…” Nathan's voice suddenly softens. The boy casts his eyes toward the floor, studying his shoes.

“Well...that leaves me with no choice, huh?” Kate speaks up. “I don't think we should report Nathan.”

“Me three.” Victoria interrupts. She frowns and nudges Courtney and Taylor, who both also agrees to hide the truth.

“Why shouldn't we report him? He's a fucking asshole.” Chloe starts, but when she sees the raised eyebrow on Max, she adds, “And he almost shot me. But mostly because he's an--”

“Can we all stop talking as if I'm not here?” Nathan snaps. Chloe sticks her tongue at him, but sits back in her chair.

“Whatever. I want to report you.”

“Sorry dude, but uh...we choose report…” Logan started, but jump when Nathan growls at them. “S-sorry! It's just...we can't just hide it. How long will it be before you pull a gun on us--”

“I won't.” Nathan snarls. Can't they understand it was an accident? He didn't mean to shoot Chloe. Even though he hates her guts, he didn't even plan to pull it out on her.

As if reading his mind, Logan and Zachary smile warily in understanding, but they didn't change their vote.

In the end, Dana, Juliet and Brooke says they choose to report and gave their reasoning. Alyssa decides to hide the truth. “Remember when I told Wells about the kid who tried to smuggle a dog in the dorms, even though he knew one of the guys in his dorm building was seriously allergic? He didn't do anything to stop the kid. He ended up leaving Blackwell, but only because he moved to Ohio.”

Everyone agrees that Nathan is exempted from answering (much to his dismay), and after Frank just randomly choose to hide the truth without giving his explanation, Mark speaks his answer:

“Hide the truth.”

Before anyone could ask, he continues.

“I'm with Alyssa. With all due respect to my boss, he's incapable of handling issues correctly.”

Max frowns. “Crap...then that means it's tied...and I'm the tie breaker.” Why does it seem as if everything important has to demand her participation? It'd be an understatement to say it's too much responsibility.

So...report Nathan or don't? The two sides hold interesting cases. If Max reports Nathan, Wells won't take the necessary precautions, according to Mark and Alyssa. If Max chooses to hide the story, she could keep her anonymity, but no one would know about the dangerous Nathan walking around campus.

“Report Nathan.” Max says, hoping she sound at least a bit courageous.

Nathan scoffs. “Whatever. I'd be surprised if Wells is sober enough to get me.”

**Max reports Nathan, but leaves out her powers and Chloe. Wells, as expected, doesn't really believe her and dismissively tell her to join her class outside. Max leaves the building, and the intercom announces for Nathan to report to the office.**

“...or not.” Nathan grumbles. He doesn't normally care if he gets sent to the office. He'll get off scot-free anyways. But…

Nathan sneaks a worried glance in Jefferson's direction, who smoothly keeps his eyes on the screen.

**Max kneels down to view Rachel Amber’s missing persons flyer.**

There are too many reactions to the flyer for Max to keep track of. She notice Frank, the sketchy guy, sit up a bit, but everyone else seems about indifferent...she thinks.

“Who's she?” Max asks no one in particular.

“That's Rachel. I put those flyers up after she just...up and left…” Chloe starts, before frowning and resting her head on her hand. Max half hugs her friend when she catches the distress written all over her face. This Rachel must've been really important to Chloe. Since Max doesn't know her, Chloe must've met her while she was in Seattle.

“Poor girl could be anywhere.” Joyce sighs.

**Max gets a text from Warren. He wants his flash drive and to meet him in the parking lot. Max monologues that the flash drive is in her dorm room.**

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that! You've had my drive since armageddon!”

Max gives Warren an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that War. But thanks for lending it to me. I got to see a lot of your awesome collection. Like _Pulp Fiction_  and _Desperado_.”

Warren smiles. “Did you watch them?”

“Haven't had the time...no pun intended.”

Warren's smile quickly deflates.

“...You like _Pulp Fiction_?”

Warren raises his eyebrows at Nathan, who just stares. “Uh...yeah. You watch that stuff, too?” Warren was surprised earlier when Nathan claimed to have watched and own _Final Destination_. But...could the snobby spoiled rich kid have a soft spot for movies?

It's not everyday one can find a fellow indie film watcher. Warren could tell Max just wasn't into movies as much as he was, and Brooke couldn't care less about his precious films. But Warren won't get too comfortable. This calls for a test.

“Watson, what are you doing?”

And Nathan...smiles?? “I'm trying to corner the last pea on my plate.”

And that's when Warren loses his shit.

“Jeez, geek. You sure you got balls?” Chloe teases to Warren's squealing. He's practically dancing in his seat.

“Oh man I can't believe you got that! Do you have a physical copy?? Can I borrow it??”

“Okay okay, yeah, sure.” There's goes Nathan again, in his default bad mood. However, this new realization sheds a new light for Warren. He decides that yeah, Nathan's got some problems, but he's overall okay in Warren's book.

“You guys done with your geek fest?” Logan finally interrupts. Nathan flips him off, but Warren just grins.

**However, Max doesn't go straight to the dorms. She walks around to talk to her fellow peers. When she talks to Stella, she learns a rumor about Mark Jefferson and Rachel Amber in a sexual relationship.**

Everyone in the room gasps, but some for different reasons. They were all taken aback by the random and sudden comment left by Stella.

“Rachel? You've been messing around with her??” Joyce is now 100 percent sure Mark is more than what he let's on. Sure, it could just be a rumor. Hell, the girl on screen seems like someone couldn't hold their teeth in. But something had to have spur that rumor. Rumors are more than likely false, but they always stem from somewhere.

“I can assure you--and everyone--that no such relationship occurred.” Mark frowns.

“She wouldn't even do that anyways… “ Chloe adds. Max looks at Chloe, but says nothing. Max mentally notes to ask why Chloe felt the need to say that, and what the double meaning of that was…

And all the while, Max silently wonders why Stella isn't one of the people who was transported here. Hell, she didn't know why half the people who are here now are present.

 _Only time will tell_...god, Max rolls her eyes at the obvious pun. She gotta stop making those.

**Max finally heads to the dorms. Zachary and Logan are throwing a football around as Alyssa sits in a bench a bit ways off. Max approaches and speaks to her about the book Alyssa's reading.**

“Finally I get some lines,” Alyssa jokes. She likes to keep to herself and blend in the background as much as possible, but she felt a bit left out being the only one in the room who hasn't been talking on screen.

“I haven't said a word, either. Max just walked right past me.” Brooke mumbles, subtly giving Max a glare.

But Max shrugs. “You were zoned out with your drone. You wouldn't have wanted to let me use it anyway.”

“I don't have a line either.” Dana pipes. Juliet and Logan also adds they haven't said anything either.

“I can't wait until I see me.” Warren smirks. “My first appearance will be as smooth as Samuel L Jackson's.”

Joyce laughs. “At least we got a text from you, kid. I'm no where to be found, appar’tly.”

**Max attempts to approach the dorms, but Victoria, Courtney, and Taylor are sitting directly in the way.**

**Victoria goes on a speech about Max being a selfie ho, and makes fun of her. Victoria takes a photo of her, tells her they aren't moving, and dismisses her. “Now, why don't you go fuck yourselfie?”**

“Victoria, that fucking burned!” Nathan exclaims, and high fives her. She smirks and dramatically checks her nails.

“It's what I do. I'll be here all year.”

Kate frowns. “That was mean…” She whispers, the dark circles under her eyes suddenly seems to stand out a bit more to Max.

“Yeah, not cool Victoria.”

Victoria scoffs. “Whatever.”

Nathan smirks, folding his arms. “Well look at you, already learning my vocabulary. Adorable.”

Victoria fights the blush that threatens to take over he features. _No, he was being sarcastic, Victoria_. “Soon I'll be better than you at your own game.”

“You wound me, Chase.”

**Max vows, in her head, to move Victoria out the way. She sees Samuel picking up the paint can to paint the roofs, but she has an idea. Max rewinds until Samuel is back near the storage room and tinkers with the paint can. She hurries, using the rewind to aid her, until she has enough time to run to the storage room and turn the sprinkler on.**

**The water sprays on the three girls, mostly on Victoria, and they are pissed. They can't sit down on the wet steps, so they stand. Victoria stands directly under where Samuel sets the paint can. The handle breaks, and lands on Victoria.**

“Really?? On my fucking Cashmere?? I just got that outfit yesterday!”

“You were being evil, Victoria. Consider it karma.” Max smirks. At first she thought her newfound powers was going to be too much responsibility. But it wouldn't hurt to use it for debauchery. Right now, she felt like a badass.

**Victoria yells at and orders Courtney and Taylor to get her towels, while she sits right back down on the steps. The two girls quickly enter the dorms in obedience.**

“You two look like slaves.” Juliet unabashedly says. Juliet never seen such a terrible friendship before. Her and Dana are the best of friends. Yeah, they have their arguments, but never have one had complete say so over the other. They are equal to each other.

“It's not like that. You just don't understand…” Courtney says. How come everyone always do that? Just look at them and then judge them like that? Like they knew their friendship more than they do?

Taylor is a bit more enraged, though.  “Exactly. You know nothing about us. And what we've been through together.” She gave Victoria a small smile, who returns it. “We'll do anything for Vic.” but she quickly frowns and glares at Juliet. “So don't call us names just because it's convenient to not stop and get to know us.”

“Don't I know the feeling?” Nathan loosely adds, brushing his hair back with his fingers.

No one knows what to say to that.

**Max gleefully cheers in her mind before approaching Victoria. Victoria sneers and asks what Max want, and a prompt displays the screen: Mock Victoria or Comfort Victoria.**

The blonde in question then attempts to glare at everyone in the room, as if to telepathically order them all to Comfort her.

“Comfort.” surprisingly, Kate is the one who speaks up first. But it isn't surprising to see her choosing the morally right answer. She smiles at Victoria. “You do bad things to others, but that's no excuse to do bad things to you.”

Her voice is almost sincere  enough to bring everyone to tears. Max rubs Kate's back softly. “Good old Kate.” Max murmurs.

In the end, pretty much everyone else chooses to comfort Victoria.

Well, almost everyone else.

“Kick that bitch to the curb.” Chloe spits, which earns her a hard glare.

“Likewise, Smurf.”

Nathan raises an eyebrow at the familiar insult, but Victoria just shrugs. “I like to recycle.”

“So it's agreed? We comfort Miss Chase?” Mark says, ignoring Chloe's grunt about being the only sensible person there.

Victoria bats her eyelashes. “Thank you, Mark.”

“Jefferson.” He's quick to correct.

**Max starts to complement Victoria, on her style of clothes and the yourselfie joke. Victoria warms up to Max, and eventually apologies and deletes the photo of Max. She moves out of Max's way, who enters the girls dormitory.**

“See? It all worked out!” Max exclaims, elbowing Chloe playfully. Chloe just huffs and slides down her chair. She looks childish, but to hell with it.

“You even deleted the photo…” Brooke sighs. At first, she was hesitant to comfort Victoria, and only choose it because Kate was so passionate about it. But now she felt kinda bad that she didn't give the snotty girl a chance.

Maybe Victoria wasn't such a mean bitch afterall. Wait, no, scratch that. She's definitely a mean bitch. But maybe she's not wholeheartedly one? One could only give her the benefit of the doubt.

**As Max makes her way down the hall, Courtney and Taylor are running out of the shower room with towels. Max walks down the empty hallway to her own dorm with a clear slate. She decides to write on it. But it just comes out to be a weird looking stick person with a poker face.**

“Can you be anymore hipster?” Zachary laughs, but it really has no bite to it.

“You'll never understand my edgy ways.” Max jokes.

It's Zachary's turn to be cocky. “Believe it or not, I use to be geeky back in middle school. Damn near goth if my sister didn't make fun of me wearing makeup.

Everyone raises their eyebrows in either amazement or disbelief.

“You? Geeky? Gothic?” Warren asks. His life is turned completely upside down! The leader of bullies that gang up on him and call him a nerd also use to be in his shoes? Is water still wet?

“Learn something new everyday.” Dana recites, and no one disagrees.

**Max enters her room and looks around, viewing pictures of her family and Chloe.**

**“** You still have that photo?” Chloe asks, looking at Max. Chloe has her copy of the photo, too, but it's up and away with their family photo album. Chloe hasn't been in it ever since...her dad died...but Max still kept it around and out.

“Yeah. I keep all photos, even the one I don't take.” Max beams. “And besides, you're in it. I wouldn't throw it away for nothing in the world.”

“...Now kiss.” Mostly the funny voice Brooke put on, and the fact that Brooke put it on in the first place, makes everyone except Max and Chloe laugh.

“Shut it.” Chloe frowns at Brooke, but Max just blushes.

**Max finds a sticky note written by Dana. It's says she borrowed Warren's flash. Max now has to go to Dana's room to pick it up.**

“Hey, you just let anyone use my drive??” Warren has some...personal...things in there. As soon as he forgot he left his MAX folder in there, he contacted Max about a week ago about his flash drive, hoping she didn't see it.

However, it looks like Max will only come around to giving it back in the future. Warren isn't surprised to see that even in the future, he's still asking about it. But now, it's too late. It's bad enough Max saw the folder, but now Dana knows. And she's a blabber mouth.

But maybe...it's not all bad? Max hasn't said anything about the folder, so maybe she just ignored it? Maybe she didn't even open it? Warren could only hope.

“Why? You got porn stashed?”

“Nathan!”

“What? Am I right?”

Warren rests his cheek on his hand, hopefully effectively hiding his growing blush. He opens his mouth to retaliate, but Max is his rescue.

“He mostly have horror flicks, but he dabbles a bit in thriller and action.”

Chloe smirks, ready to add her own comment. “Why do you ask, Nathan? Interested?”

Now it's Nathan's turn to get quiet. He flips off both Max and Chloe though (And flips off Warren for the hell of it), to retain as much lost pride as he could.

**Max walks out the room and on cue, Juliet storms out of Dana's room, snapping at her, before locking it and trying futilely to contact someone who clearly isn't answering. Max starts to walk toward the girls.**

“What did I do?” Dana frowns, looking up at Juliet, who shrugs.

“I think the better question is, what type of dorm room can lock on the outside?” David inquires, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. He's going to have to look into that. That is just an accident waiting to happen, and extremely dangerous.

“Regardless, it looks like it's gonna be a pain to get to Dana.” Shit. That might also mean she has to play detective and solve their problem just to get the flash drive. Just her luck.

**Max asks what's wrong. Juliet doesn't bite though. She says Max doesn't really care. She challenges Max by quizzing her on her last name. Max guesses it wrong, and Juliet finds it pathetically sad. “By the way, Juliet Watson.”**

“Diva, aren't we?” Victoria purrs. So far Juliet proved to be rather feisty. But the face Juliet made also proved that she could read minds.

“I'm not joining your...posse’.” Juliet dismisses. “Flattered, though.”

**Max rewinds, and immediately demands Juliet Watson to be nice. Juliet expresses her surprise that Max got it right, and confides. According to Victoria, Zachary and Dana has been sexting each other behind Juliet's back.**

**“** Fucking stupid rumors.” Zachary mumbles. He despise rumors with a passion. It always lead to confusion and meaningless drama that he could do without. It makes his blood boil every time he's caught in the middle of a complete lie.

“Oh god, Dana…” But Juliet didn't have to say anything else. Dana nods and smiles, half hugging her friend.

“It's cool.” She says simply, and frowns at Victoria, who just shrugs and smirks.

“Can't blame me. It's been awhile since a lot of drama happened.”

“There are other big things going on, Victoria. Not enough drama for you?”  Alyssa points out.

“Future me doesn't know that.”

**Max mumbles about Victoria, instantly curious. Dana yelling through the door to Max to check out Victoria's room for proof is the last push Max needs to sneak in Victoria's room, which is fortunately empty.**

**“** Get the fuck out of my room, Maxine!” Victoria screeches. That is her room--her safe haven! And to have Max just up and walk right in? And to spoil her fun, too....

Joyce whistles. “Wow. Look at all them fancy gadgets. Must've cost a fortune.” Joyce isn't a very jealous person, but she has to admit, she wish she was spoiled in her teen days like this.

But then again, she's grateful for her upbringing and the person she became in result.

“The Prescotts aren't the only ones loaded.” And it was right. But it irks David. Those rich kids are always trouble. His hands are already full with Nathan.

**Max looks around the room a bit until she gets to a laptop. She prints an email sent by Victoria with all the proof she needs. She takes it to Juliet, who instantly feels guilty.**

**She frees Dana, thank Max, and leaves. Dana thank Max as well, and invites her in her room to get the drive. However, Max sees a pregnancy test and picks it up. Dana is angry with Max, calling her nosey.**

“Ooo~ someone couldn't keep their legs closed.” Nathan cooes.

“Embarrassing…” Dana murmurs, sitting back and trying to hide her face with her palm. If only she could blend into the chair and disappear. She couldn't tell her parents. She couldn't tell anybody. But her secret just displaying itself on screen in front of all these people is more than embarrassing. _Degrading_.

“I'm so sorry, Dana. I swear I didn't mean to be nosey. If I'd known what that was I swear I wouldn't have picked it up…” Max rambles an apology, but Dana never makes eye contact.

“So who knocked you up?” Victoria taunts, a devilish smirk slowly dominating her features.

“You don't know how fucking humiliating this is for me.” Dana croaks.

**Max rewinds so the incident never happened. She retrieves the flash and leaves, getting texts from Warren before walking out the dorms.**

Warren's stomach growl makes everyone pause, then laugh. He blushes.

“I didn't eat anything today. It's gotta be noon by now.” Warren reasons.

Blue light. Another note.

_Hello~ Nice day we're having!_

_It has come to my attention that I forgot to provide food! Silly me, I can be rather absent minded at times, please forgive me._

_Look behind you._

_The Great and the Merciful,_

_B. B. D. Ed II_

Everyone twist their bodies to turn around, and almost like magic, there stood double doors that slowly openz to reveal an emmaculate kitchen, complete with flowers, a high end stove, silver sink and small appliances, and marble island counters.

“Well then.” Mark says simply.

Everyone stands to stretch and walk in the kitchen, but Joyce stands near the door to stop everyone. “Uh uh. You all stay out of the kitchen. I'll fix you all somethin’, and I'd rather cook without mouth watering fools over me.”

And with that, Joyce and David both leave for the kitchen, leaving everyone behind.

Frank grumbles, startling Max a bit, and goes down the hatch to the rooms. Max wonders who that guy is, and why he hasn't spoken yet, and how he's connected to everything. He is...odd. His presence is chilling.

“How's it going, Mad Max?” Warren interruptes Max's thoughts. She smiles for the pleasant distraction.

“Good. As well one could. You feeling alright?”

“Yeah. Just...everything that's happened got my head spinning.”

Max sighs in agreement, looking around the room. “I can tell. I was really interested in your little hypothesis. About the butterfly.”

Warren's eyes light up and he opens his mouth to speak, but stops when Max scans the room a second time.

“What're looking for?” Warren asks, looking around as well.

“Where did Chloe go?” Max muses.

“Oh. The punk girl, right? Down the hatch I think.”

Max could feel her eyes go wide. Chloe went down there with that shady guy? For what?

“Thanks Warren. I'll be back, okay?”

And with that, Max is gone.

Warren slumps his shoulders in defeat, but jumps a bit when he feels a hand on his shoulder. He turns around, and sees Brooke, who is smiling up at him.

He sighs. Well, at least someone is wiling to listen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very abrupt way to end this one haha.  
> 6,000 words though! WOOT! THIS IS where I want to be. Every chapter being this long or longer. I only cut this one short because I realized no one ate anything for half the day. 
> 
> And hey, I hope you're having a fantastic day. :)


	4. "Episode 1.3 - Super Power Name and Nosey Max Strikes Again"

“Mrs Price, can I speak to you for a moment?”

Joyce looks up from the stove to see Dana standing halfway visible beside the door. The older woman rests her hand on her hips. “Thought I said no one in the kitchen?” Joyce laughs.

Dana smiles softly. “Sorry. Just...really want to speak to you…” She spares a glance at David. “...in private…”

David stares for a bit before standing up from an idle chair in the corner, kisses his wife's cheek, and disappears into the theatre room.

Joyce motions for Dana to walk in further, and she does. Dana leans against the counter and takes a look at the stove: it's a pasta looking meal.  
Joyce notices Dana's curiosity and smiles. “Carbonara. A lot of ingredients for Italian dishes in here.”

Dana nods, and silence soon follows.  
Joyce speaks up again. “You're here to talk about your kid, right?”

Dana stays silent.

Joyce stirs the pot. “When I was pregnant with Chloe, William was such a worry wart. Not only was he worried he won't be a good father, he was always askin’ me if I was fine or if I needed help down the stairs. One night I said my back hurt and he gave me all his pillows!” Joyce chuckles softly, and her small smile slowly disspates. “Back then, it was honestly annoying. Being the center of his attention 24/7. I would make him work at the diner just to get him out of my hair for a bit. Now, he's gone...I wish I wasn't so annoyed back then. I wish I'd just bear it and spend that lost time with him. Because all his worrying just meant he cared.”

Joyce sets the wooden spoon down on the counter and wipes her hands clean on a spare towel. She lifts Dana's head to look directly at her eyes. “Now listen here, sweetie. This is your responsibility now, but you don't have to do it alone. You have people out there who are willing to help, even if it doesn't seem like it. And you worrying isn't a bad thing. Just don't worry your pretty head off too much.” Dana smiles at Joyce, and it is returned. “Now go on. Foods almost done.”

“Thank you, Joyce.” Dana nods, walking out of the kitchen.

“Anytime.”

\----

To say everyone enjoyed their share of pasta is an understatement. Most even asked for seconds of Joyce's homemade Carbonara.

It was amazingly comforting to Max, having something familiar to her in this odd situation she found herself in. It was like the heaven in the chaos. And it didn't hurt that Chloe, Warren and Kate sat beside and near her.

But if course, all things must come to an end, and everyone had to be rid of their dishes and settle back down into their seats comfortably. They don't how long they have to stay, but Max can tell it's going to be longer than she can take.

**Max begins her walk to see Warren in the parking lot, but is interrupted when she spots Madsen advancing on Kate. Hiding from view, Max watch as Madsen forcefully interrogate and accuse Kate for reasons unknown, whom the latter backs up from David. “Leave me alone!”**

**And time sits still, another prompt for Max: Interfere or Take a Photo.**

“Oh geez, here we go again…” Courtney sighs.

“So I guess I don't count on this one, huh?” Kate says, and she has a feeling it's going to be that way more than once.

“Yeah…” Max says, studying the screen. “I guess...take a photo? I'd rather not get in the middle of something I can't take care of. At least without evidence.”

“Like a real photographer, Caulfield.” Mark muses, a small smile playing on his lips.

Victoria scowls audibly. “Yeah yeah. If that was me I would've taken a photo too.” She looks over at Nathan. “You?”

“I guess. Sure.”

“Well, it's pretty obvious what the right choice is.” Warren speaks up, gaining everyone's attention. “Look what happen last time Max tried to tell someone the truth -- Principal Wells didn't even try to believe her! The way things’re going, you're gonna have to have concrete evidence to back you up.”

Even David couldn't argue against that, considering he's the one who'll get told on. Everyone in the room who had even the littlest of doubt made up their minds, agreeing with Warren's testimony.

**Max pulls out her camera and takes a photo, unbeknownst to David and Kate. Madsen finally walks away, Kate spots Max, and wears a scowl on her face.**

**“Hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks for nothing, Max.”**

“...Well shit.” Warren sputters. He didn't expect that to happen the way it did.

“Oh god. I bet if you would've stepped in, Kate wouldn't be mad at you.” Alyssa groans. She's beginning to learn that no matter what they choose, there's no clear cut win-win situation. Every choice is a shitty choice.

“But we wouldn't have the photo. Future Kate will thank us later, when we win against Madsen.” Warren says confidently, but immediately cowers under David's glare. “Uh, no offense, Sir.”

“None taken.”

“I just kinda wish I did both...just taken the photo, and then stepped in.” Max comments, looking over at Kate. “Then you wouldn't be so angry, and I'd still be able to help.”

“It's okay, Max. And I'm sorry. My future self didn't know you were already helping so much. It'll pay off soon.” Kate smiles, patting her friend's hand.

Max smiles back, and looks back up at the screen. She hopes so. Max knows Kate is in a dark place right now, all because of that video...and all of the bullying. It doesn't matter if Max has proof for later. Because right now, future Kate believes everyone is either against her or making fun of her.

Max just hopes Kate will be alright. It's all she asks for, really.

**Max walks out into the parking lot, and sees Juliet sitting alone. When they talk, Juliet says how distressed she is about Zachary sexting Victoria. Apparently it was 'for fun'.**

“Exactly. You don't just sext someone for shits and giggles." Juliet agrees with herself as she casts a heated glare towards Zachary and Victoria. The former avoids eye contact while the latter just scoffs and shrugs.

**Max meets up with Warren, and misses his hug greeting by returning his flash drive.**

The room fills with boisterous laughter.

“Oh man, t-that's gotta hurt like _hell_!” Victoria booms, doubling over.

Nathan nods profusely. “That was amazing!” And he too falls over.

“Oh god...spare me…” Warren cowers, pulling his legs close to his chest and slumping over to hide his face in his knees. He hears a snicker behind him and instantly snaps his head up. “Kate?? You too??”

Kate tries to fight the amused smile, but eventually fails and clears her throat. “I'm sorry Warren. But that was kinda funny...just a bit.” She tries to soften the blow, but her soft voice is enough.

“Well lookie there, Max! Oh lala~?” Chloe probes, elbowing Max on her arm teasingly.

“Geez, Chloe, knock it off.” Max deadpans, brushing her friend off easily. She's just not into Warren like that. When they first met, it was awesome hanging out with him. But when his feelings for her started to become apparent, Max found almost every conversation with Warren to be awkward and even unpleasant some times. She just doesn't have the heart to say no.

**Warren awkwardly accepts his drive. They talk for a bit about movies and toss friendly flirts. Warren then mentions the drive in, but the conversation quickly turns to Max's recluse behaviour. Max leans against the car and prepares to tell Warren about her day when Nathan suddenly storms up asking for her.**

“Oh no, here we go…” Joyce sighs. She'd wish the principal has enough sense to keep Max's complaint anonymous, but she couldn't entirely blame the man. Knowing the kind of person Nathan is, he probably demanded to know the name of the person who told on him.

“Nathan…” Victoria's voice is low and quite scary, and it almost makes Nathan flinch.

Nathan knows what she wants to say. _‘Did you take your meds this morning’?_

_Hell no._

He kinda wish he did though. Without the medication, Nathan knows how skittish he can be. And how impulsive he gets. But some times ingesting the pills give him headaches and make him irritated, and eventually drown himself in alcohol. And when he drinks, he does stupid shit. And he'd rather not disappoint more people than he already had, thank you very much.

**Nathan pushes Warren aside and gets in Max's face, interrogating her on exactly what she said to Principal Wells. Her boldness in telling him to get help only agitates him further. Warren steps up and tries to shove the increasingly dangerous Nathan off of Max.**

“This can only end in the worst possible way.” Brooke murmurs and casts a quick glance between Nathan and Warren. She doesn't have an ounce of tolerance for Nathan, and she hopes Warren (And, well...Max too) can get out of this mess unscathed. But she doesn't know how strong Nathan is, or if he's just that crazy and will do something drastic to Max and Warren.

But then again, look what happened in the bathroom, if it weren't for Max's powers. That's pretty drastic if you asked Brooke.

**Nathan wordlessly turns toward Warren and headbutt him, knocking the boy to the ground.**

“Hey! That really hurt!” Warren grimaces and tries to massage the sudden pounding headache. All he did was put his hands on Nathan's chest! He didn't know that'll warrant him a fucking headbutt!

Oh god, what if they actually got into a huge fight? This pain factor -- feeling every injury from the future -- is going to be a literal pain the ass.

“You think you're the only one who suffered, you ass?” Nathan grumbles, mirroring Warren's ministrations on his forehead.

“It's called consequence, Nathaniel. Now what did that tell you?” Mark scolds.

But Nathan blinks in confusion and shrugs. “Don't headbutt because it hurts me as well?”

Everyone in the room sigh collectively. Nathan Prescott is just helplessly hopeless.

**Nathan advances on Warren, but Max pounces on Nathan. However, it quickly backfires when Nathan turns his attention back to her and chokes her, pushing her backwards and yelling in her face about how no one can tell him what to do. In the middle of his rant, Max uses her fingers and scratches his cheek, giving her enough time to push him off of her.**

**Max stumbles a bit, and hears a car coming to a screeching halt behind her. Max turns around and lock eyes with Chloe.**

“Hell yeah bitches! In comes Chloe fucking Price to save the day!” Chloe announces as she flex her muscles, earning the people in the rooms roll of the eyes.

"Or run me over..." Max says accusingly.

But Chloe just shrugs and settles down. "Same thing, right?"

**Nathan regains composure and starts to walk toward the two, but Warren gets back up and hurls Nathan to the ground with him, telling Max to go off and run. Max jumps into the vehicle with Chloe as Warren gets punched in the face. They drive off just in time for David to run up towards the fighting Nathan and Warren.**

“Nathan, why do you hate me so?” Warren says poetically, cupping his eye. Shit that hurt. Gonna definitely leave a bruise.

“Just don't drag me to the dirty fucking pavement next time.” Nathan muses, feeling up his cheek for scratch marks that weren't there.

“But you started it!”

“Started it my ass! You were the one who shoved me!”

“I barely pushed you! And you were gonna hurt Max!”

“No I wasn't!”

“But you did!”

“Because you pushed me!”

“Oh my goodness will you two knock it off?!” Joyce yells over the two boys. “You two sound like a bunch of babies! So shut up bickering!”

Nathan huffs and rolls his eyes as Warren zipped his lips and threw away the key.

“At least David's there. So you two should be okay now…” Dana muses, turning towards David. “...Right?”

David gives a sharp nod. “Yes. I'm sure I'll take them straight to Principal Wells, or better yet, solve the issue myself.”

Joyce smiles and pats her husband's hand. “Now there's my brave man.”

Chloe looks over at Max and sticks her tongue out, pointing towards her mouth. “Yuck.” She simply says.

**In the truck, Max and Chloe talk about what happened, and what Nathan had to do with Max. "Hopefully nothing after today."**

**But unfortunatly the conversation quickly turns sour, with Chloe accusing Max of never trying to contact her when she left and came back. Max tries to defend herself, but Chloe easily calls her on her bullshit.**

“Damn. Harsh.” Logan comments, and everyone nods in agreement.

But not _everyone_.

“Hardly. She left me for years with not a damn word.” Chloe spoke in a clearly annoyed tone, deliberately speaking as if Max wasn't sitting beside her.

“Chloe, you've gotta believe me. I got hung up on so many things. I got carried away trying to get my life started that I completely forgot about the one I have back in Arcadia Bay. There's no excuse for it and I'm sorry…” Max says softly, sighing when Kate rubs her back in a circular motion in comfort.

“Whatever.” Chloe bites, leaning back against her chair and crossing her arms in defiance.

Joyce shakes her head. “Now Chloe. It's not entirely Max's fault. She may not have called you, but tell me, did you even try to call her?”

Chloe didn't have an answer to that, so she huffs and glares at the screen. She didn't need to call Max! If they were really friends like Max said they were, she would've called. Or texted. Or did something. Hell, Chloe doesn't care -- she'd even jump for joy if a fucking letter came in the mail. But nope. Nada damn thing.

**Max leans back in defeat. She digs into her bag to see that her Polaroid is smashed. Chloe says her step-father has some tools Max could use to fix it, and playfully cracks a joke. Max busy herself taking in the sight of her friend, a bit taken aback at Chloe's new and very different appearance.**

“Yeah, Max. You've got a lot to catch up on honey. It was sudden for me too, and that's saying something.” Joyce muses, shaking her head. From William’s death, to Max's leave, and to everything Rachel came with and left behind, Chloe just molded into something Joyce never thought she would grow up to be. She grew up fast, maybe even too fast. But all Joyce know of is her suspension out of Blackwell and speeding tickets. Judging from the bathroom incident, she can't even begin to wonder what else her daughter does in her spare time.

**When they arrive, Max comments on how unchanged the house looks since her last stay.**

**“Home shit home.” Chloe announces as they walk to the front door and the screen fades to black.**

“I apologize if this is an inappropriate time,” Mark starts. “But why was Chloe on campus in the first place?”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out…” Joyce mumbles.

“She shouldn't have been there at all, let alone to meet with Prescott.” David spits, glaring at Chloe. Although he's royally pissed with what happened (or will happen, for that matter) today, he's actually really worried about Chloe’s well-being, especially now that it seems like Nathan's has unfinished business with his daughter. His future self has no idea, but even then he'll do everything and anything to keep Chloe safe. But the soldier in him is suggesting otherwise. Because ultimately, without knowing the real threat and all of what's happening, how can he take the precautions necessary to keep his family safe and happy?

**The scene is now focused in Chloe's room, where Chloe asks Max to play music while she ‘medicate’. Max looks around and starts to reminisce about all the childhood knickknacks around Chloe's room.**

“Chloe! Are you smoking in the house?? What did I tell you about that??” David snarls.

“It's just a little smoke, douchebag. Leave me be. I had a long day.”

“Not an excuse, young lady. And I thought David was lying about you doing drugs!” Joyce says.

“God, you make it sound like I sniff crack. Chill!” Chloe exclaims, willing to end the conversation.

“Even though your room is totally decked out in punk rock, you still kept all of our junk from way back then.” Max says softly, smiling at the screen. Well, she did as well, keeping the photos of her and Chloe, and a few little trinkets here and there, but Chloe's room is where they spent most of their days together. They didn't have crazy exploits outside with the other kids in the neighborhood. Instead, they played with each other with only their imaginations to keep them entertained. They went on adventures all around Chloe's house. And even though she's not physically in the blue haired girl's room right now, Max can still feel the little warm swell in her chest. She was finally home.

**Max looks under the bed for a CD.**

“Nosey Max strikes again.” Dana laughs along with everyone else in the room. Because really, it's now becoming a shtick for Max.

“I'm not always nosey. Maybe there's really some music down there…” Max pouts in a vain attempt to explain herself. But she does have to admit: why in the world is she so damn intrusive all of a sudden??

**Max finds a small box and opens it, finding little ornaments and friendship bracelets...and a folded photo showing Rachel. Max unfolds it to reveal Chloe on the other side, smiling with the very much alive Rachel.**

“...You knew Rachel?” Nathan's voice was abnormally soft that Chloe had to take a moment to collect herself before answering.

“Uh, yeah. I was the one who put up the missing posters. You knew...know her?” Chloe asks timidly, but her tone quickly hardens. “Do you know where she is??”

“No.” Nathan says a bit too fast. Chloe just about jumps from her seat in an attempt to either scream or interrogate Nathan, but Max grips her friend's wrist and it's enough to make Chloe settle back down, but not without her whispering to Max, “I'm good for now. But I'm gonna ask him soon. And you gotta have my back, Max.”

Max doesn't blame her -- that was a bit odd, how Nathan answered, and a quick glance at everyone else's expressions proved that she's not the only one who caught the suspicious behaviour. Max doesn't even know if Nathan realises he's tapping his foot uncontrollably.

It seems like every time Rachel is brought up, something weird and ominous happens. And it doesn't sit well with Max at all.

**Chloe gets angry with Max and her intrusive behaviour. Max apologises but asks about the girl. Chloe explains that she made the missing girl posters because Rachel is her best friend who disappeared all of a sudden. They talked about how they were going to move out of Arcadia Bay and live it up. But Rachel just left without a trace. Chloe notes how first it was her father, then Max, and now Rachel, and how lonely she felt. But she abruptly stopped talking about Rachel and instead tells Max to play the music already.**

“I'm sorry…” _and I wish I was there for you_ remained unspoken. Chloe just shrugs and give Max a sad smile.

“I'm over it. Whatever, right? Because you're here now. Fuck the past, I can deal with it. After all…” Chloe smirks and starts to flex again. “I'm Chloe fucking Price, the invincible wingman to Max: The Time Manipulator!”

Max laughs and rolls her eyes. “So is that my new superpower name?”

“I kinda liked Max: The Human Time Machine, but Time Manipulator is really cool too. It sounds more menacing!” Warren coos.

Chloe snorts and faces Max, jerking a thumbs towards Warren. “I like that kid.”

“‘Menacing’? But shouldn't it be something a bit more reflective of what Max's used her powers for? She didn't abuse her powers so far, so how about Max: The Everyday Hero?”

“Ooh! Like the contest! That works so well!” Taylor exclaims, but when she relieves a glare from Victoria, she immediately shrinks back into her seat.

“Are you guys really stalling our future to come up with my superpower name?” Max jokes, but still appreciates the small break. The emotionally driven conversation her future self had with Chloe left an intense aura in the room, and if it wasn't for their divergence to complete debauchery, Max is sure everyone would crush under the heavy weight of Rachel’s disappearance.

**Max plays the CD mix in the radio and Chloe takes a second to calm down with her cigarette in hand. She then avoids Max's concerning question and directs her to the garage downstairs for the tools for her broken Polaroid.**

“Chloe I told you no one is allowed to be in the garage!” David says, trying to keep his voice steady. There are things he have in there that'll definitely look incriminating to everyone else, and he can't afford to explain everything to everyone now, not when he's so close to the truth. He doesn't particularly care for the publicity and how he'll look like to others, but he'd rather keep everything in his control and not be eyeballed by outsiders. And no doubt Max will look in every crevice and corner in the garage.

All he needs is a little more time and a bit of faith from everyone. But he knows that's asking for too much.

**Max locates the garage and looks around. She spots something above and tries to grab it, but the unused boxes fall and gets soiled in oil on the ground. Max uses her rewind so it never happened.**

“Now I want some rewind powers too.” Alyssa comments. How come Max gets super cool powers? Yeah, Alyssa's happy for her, but she wouldn't complain if the forces of nature somehow granted her the power to reverse time itself!

“You might wanna conserve your powers though, Max.” Warren says, quizzically gripping his chin in thought.

“Oh yes, Warren. I'll be sure to let my future self know.” Max jokes.

“But seriously! You don't know if your powers are limited. There's no doubt in my mind that you were given these god like abilities for a reason. What if you ran out of it before you could use it for its intended purpose?”

And with that, Max doesn't have anything to say. It makes a lot of sense. And not only that, but what if something terrible happens and Max is powerless to stop it because she used up her powers for something mundane as making sure a couple of boxes weren't soaked in oil?

Hopefully her future self is thinking of these things and knows what she's doing.

**Max walks along the counter and cupboards, spotting a laptop that's security locked. Not knowing the password, she instead looks inside the cabinets, the first loaded with canned food and non perishable goods.**

“Geez, you're stocked for an apocalypse.” Warren notes, scratching his hair. Really, all the propaganda surrounding the apocalypse is just confusing to Warren. As a scientist, he has no doubt the end of the world will happen...but not in the form of zombies or technology taking over. He likes to draw the line between science and science fiction.

“Paranoid as always. You get use to it.” Chloe shrugs.

**The second cabinet however, has a small television inside and a sheet of paper inside. The sheet is a blueprint of Blackwell with red marks, the key stating to be the placement of cameras.**

“Placement of cameras?” Joyce's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider. She didn't know anything about this! She glares at her husband, her look demanding an answer, but his own hard stare shoots at her. Trust me, it says.

“I never heard of cameras being installed in Blackwell...does Principal Wells know about this?” Mark sighs, already knowing the answer. And truthfully, anyone who knows Wells knows he's too easily persuaded. So even if Madsen came to the drunken principal first, he'd either blindly agree or dismiss the matter till the ends of time itself.

**Max turns the TV on, and comments how disturbing it is that there are cameras located around the house.**

“I feel like someone needs to keep tally on all the times Max's been nosey so far.” Victoria sneers. She'd admit she is a little jealous Max has so much attention in their collective futures, and to top it off, have superpowers be used on her to make her look silly. So any jab Victoria can use against Max is welcomed.

“Now I'm starting to favor Max being in other people's business. If she didn't, who knows how long I would've been in the dark about this.” Every word Joyce mutter sounds more and more deadly, and everyone understandably shrink in their seats.

“Not gonna lie, I think this is the first time I'm actually scared for step douche.” Chloe whispers to Max as she watches Madsen’s face pale.

**But Max still rewinds, just to be sure it doesn't look like she's been snooping around.**

**Max walks along, spotting more useless tools and she passes the washing machine. She turns the gun display light on and comments on the missing gun.**

“Chloe.” David growls, dragging the word in a scolding but warning tone.

“It's for protection! I wasn't gonna fucking meet Mr. Money Bags without a gun!” And Chloe glares at Nathan, who glares back challengingly. “But he beat me to it.”

David actually pauses to consider this, but before he could speak, Joyce interrupts. “We don't trust you with a gun, Chloe. Although it might protect you, you're irresponsible enough to do something completely stupid.”

Chloe sputters in disbelief, and looks at Max for backup, but the brown haired girl just shrugs. And a quick look around the room shows that everyone else are just staring.

“Whatever.”

**Max opens a drawer and learns that David is the same David from Blackwell, the security guard, and also served in the military.**

“Explains why you're such a fucking tool.” Nathan muses nonchalantly.

“Hey!”

“First I'm feeling bad for step fucker and now I'm agreeing with the ultimate dipshit in the world.” Chloe rolls her eyes. “I must be going nuts.” 

**Max spots the washing machine, and sees the tiny tools she needs at the very top, unreachable. She turns on the machine and it shakes, knocking the tools to the ground...in another unreachable spot. Max has a plan. She rewinds, slides a wooden tri-plank under the table, and redo her steps. In turn, the tools land on the surface, and Max can now use the small platform to get the tools.**

“Okay, now it's getting annoying.” Brooke mumbles. Really, if Max never had those powers, she'd be royally fucked right about now...or should it be in the future, not right now, since it didn't happen yet? God, all this future stuff and time traveling is giving Brooke a headache.

“If she didn't have her powers, she'd have to face the consequences of being nosey.” Taylor sneers.

“I'm right here…” Max mumbles.

**Max leaves the garage and returns to Chloe's room, whom the owner is still smoking. Max sits at the desk and has no luck of fixing her camera. Chloe joins her and spots the pictures she's taken.**

**Chloe sees the photo of David, and insults him, on how he doesn't lay off and how much of a bully he is. Then she sees the butterfly photo, instantly recognising it from the bathroom earlier that day.**

“Wait, you saw the butterfly?” Victoria questions, one eyebrow raised.

“Yeah...I could've sworn it flew away. If anyone saw the butterfly other than me, I'd be Nathan.” Max says, looking at her best friend, who shrugs.

“I dunno.”

Joyce rubs her face with open palms. “You were in the bathroom of a campus you're not suppose to be in, with a very dangerous guy talking about a sensitive topic, who also is carrying a gun and threatens to shoot you, and you mean to tell me you notice the _butterfly_?”

“Hey, don't blame me! That thing is bluer than my hair! How could you miss something like that??”

**Chloe begins to question Max on how much she heard and who she told. Max confesses that she told the Principal. Chloe tells her not to trust the guy.**

“A bit late for that.” Nathan laughs.

“Shut up, fuckface.” Chloe bites.

“Make me, dumb bitch.”

“Asshole.”

“Fucktard.”

“Enough!” Joyce just about shouts.

**Afterwards, Chloe walks a bit away, commenting how she knows a few months ago was Max's birthday, and presented to the brown haired girl Chloe's dad camera. Max humbly accepts the camera, and Chloe asks for the butterfly photo as a token of their reunion. Max gladly gives the photo away.**

“Something tells me giving Chloe the photo is either a super bad idea or super important.” Zachary says, and Logan nods.

“More like a bad idea. You could turned it in. For the contest.” Mark frowns, making Max nervously laugh.

“I'm sure I'll be on it.” Is all Max can give him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see! Hi there! :^D
> 
> Finally got some time to write more LiS. Now gotta write for Entitled. 
> 
> God, I write too much. But I love it. At least you guys get reading material.
> 
> And finally got to edit the tags and include what I wanted for this story. Again, maybe more will be added. c:
> 
> Only four thousand words, but I found the ending to this chapter to be rather fitting, don'cha think?
> 
> Love youuu~ ♡


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